Garment and method of making the same



March 16, 1948. w w, ARTZT ETAL 2,437,989

GARMENT AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Jan. 29, 1946 INVENTORSW/u/AM M42727 Md fir [5541 07 Patented Mar. 16, 1948 GARMENT AND METHODOF MAKING THE SAME William W. Artzt, New Rochelle, N. Y., and ElyLesavoy, Allentown, Pa., assignors to Lisle Mills, 1110., Allentown,Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application January 29, 1946, SerialNo. 643,996

1 Claim.

ihe present invention relates to garments and the method of making thesame, and is particularly directed to under garments, such as,undershirts or the like, of the sleeveless, neckless, slipover type.

It has been customary in forming garments of the character indicated byprior methods to cut a flattened tube of fabric transversely at the topand bottom of the length corresponding to the length of the garment tobe formed. The straight or transverse cut at the bottom forms the bottomor lower end of the garment. A U-shaped portion is then cut at the topof the tubular section or length thus formed intermediate the sidesthereof, to form a pair of U-shaped openings at one end in each wall ofthe tube, the tube is then cut transversely from one side towards themiddle along an arcuate contour to provide the front portion of a neckopening, after which the tube is cut transversely from the other sidetowards the middle along an arcuate contour to provide the back portionof the neck opening. The U shaped openings and the neck portions providefour strap-like sections. The tube is then folded into a longitudinalplane perpendicular to the plane in which the tube was flattened whilethe cutting operations were performed, and the ends of adjacent pairs ofthe strap-like sections are then seamed together to provide shoulderstraps. When the strap-like sections are so joined the U- shapedopenings are closed to form the arm holes of the garment and the frontand back neck portions form the neck opening.

The prior method of making the garment as just described has severaldisadvantages. In cutting the tubular material in a straight transverseline to secure the proper garment length and then cutting portions outof the other end as described, the cut out portions are discarded,resulting in the waste or loss of material. Another disadvantage is thatwhere front and rear flaps are required on the garment, the material iscut away at the sides of the lower end to provide such flaps, thematerial thus cut away also being discarded, resulting in further wasteof material.

The present invention aims to overcome the foregoing difficulties byproviding an improved garment of the sleeveless, neckless, slip-overtype and a method of making the same wherein there is no waste or lossof material.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide animproved garment of the character indicated. 7

Another object is the provision of a garment wherein the severing of thetop of one garment blank provides complementary flaps at the bottom ofthe adjacent garment blank.

Another object is to provide such a garment wherein the portions cutaway from the garment material in forming the arm holes of the garmentare employed to provide an improved garment.

A further object resides in the provision of a garment which will litthe user more comfortably, prevent riding up of the garment when worn,and which garment may if desired be Worn as a combined shirt and shortpants.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be manifest fromthe following description and the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a flat tube of fabric having superimposedthereon patterns for cutting garments of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the garment folded substantially into aplane indicated by the line 22 on Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the completed garment of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of portions of the garment removed from theblank during the forming of the arm holes;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a garment to which the portions shown in Fig. 4are attached in a manner and for the purpose hereinafter described; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional View on line 6--6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, thereis shown a garment I0 such as an undershirt comprising a seamlesslyformed tubular body portion l2 having front and rear flaps i4 and [6 atits lower end, and arm holes l8 and a neck opening 20 at the upper endprovided with the conventional binding 2|. The rear flap provides abuttocks covering portion and may be provided with means for detachablysesuring the same to the front flap, as will be described hereinafter.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a fiat tube of fabric 22 having patterns 24 and26 superimposed thereon. When the tube is out along the transverse line32 and the arcuate or complex contour lines 34, 36 and 38 and holes 40are formed therein, garments blanks are formed.

Before placing the pattern on the tube 22, the tube is flattened ordoubled upon itself. The first garment blank corresponding to thepattern 24 is formed by cutting the tube 22 transversely along thestraight line 32 and then along the complex arcuate line -34. Thepattern used in forming this and described in copending applicationSerial No.

611,025, now Patent Number 2,414,048, granted January 7, 1947.

Arm holes 40 are formed in each layer or wall of the material at themiddle of the tube adjacent to but spaced from the upper edge a distancewhereby the upper portions of the arm holes provide seamlessly joinedshoulder strap sections 42, as also more fully shown and described inthe aforesaid pending application.

The first garment blank thus formed is folded into a longitudinal planeperpendicular to the plane in which the tube was flattened while thecutting operations were performed, whereby to take the form of thegarment of Fig. 2, except that the bottom edge is straight instead ofbeing provided with the front and rear flaps i l and I6 respectively.After the garment is formed the edges of the neck opening and arm holesmay be provided with the binding 2! as shown in Fig. 3.

One garment of the type just described, that is, with a straight bottomedge, is made from each length of tube, it being formed at the end ofthe tube as aforesaid. The other garments formed from the tube are ofthe type shown in Figs. 2 and 3 each having front and rear bottom flapsl4 and I6 respectively.

In forming the garment blank for the garment of Figs. 2 and 3, which forconvenience of description will be referred to as the second garmentblank formed, the pattern 26 is placed on the flattened tube 22 in themanner shown in Fig. 1. This pattern as will be seen from Fig. 1 has acomplex contour or arcuate upper edge or end formed of arcs 52 and 54meeting substantially centrally of the side edges of the pattern. Thepattern also has a complex contour or arcuate lower edge or end formedof arcs B and 58 which also meet substantially centrally of the sideedges of the pattern. A hole 40 is formed in the pattern centrally ofits side edges and adjacent to but spaced from its upper edge, as shownin Fig. 1. It will be noted that the contours of the arcs 52 and 56 arethe same as each other but are of different contours than the contoursof the arcs 54 and 53 which also are the same as each other. When thetube 22 is out along the line 36 the cut made when cutting along thecontour 52 forms the back of the neck opening 20, and the cut made bycutting along the contour 54 forms the front of the neck opening, thefront of the neck opening in the garment being lower than the backopening. The arm holes [8 are formed by cutting through both walls ofthe tubular fabric around the edge of the hole 40 in the pattern. Thesections of the fabric thus removed are shown in Fig. 4.

When the first garment blank is formed, in the manner previouslydescribed, the cutting of the fabric along the line 34, that is, alongthe arcuate lines 56 and 58, formed the lower portion of the secondgarment blank; the portion of the fabric corresponding to, or out along,the arcuate line 56 formed the edge of the front flap M of the garmentof Figs. 2 and 3, and the portion of the fabric corresponding to, or outalong,

the arcuate line 58 becoming the edge of the back flap it, when thegarment blank is folded alon line 2-2 of Fig. 1 as hereinbeforedescribed.

When forming the next garment blank, a pattern 28 or the same pattern 25may be em ployed. These patterns as will be seen from Fig. 1, areidentical, so that instead of employing two separate patterns one may beemployed by reversing the same and placing the reverse face of thepattern on the flattened tube, whereby arcuate line 53 and the arcuateline 55 will coincide with the edges of the fabric out along the arcuatelines 52 and 54, respectively, when the upper edge of the second garmentblank was formed.

In reversing the pattern, in the manner described, and cutting the tubealong the arcuate end thereof, there is a considerable saving of thefabric, in addition to saving or eliminating a cutting operation whichotherwise would have been necessary, had the pattern not been reversedand a rear flap which is larger than the front flap desired.

When it is desired to provide the garment shown in Fig. 6, the portionsor sections 56 and 62 cut from the material in forming the arm holes, asshown in Fig. 4, are utilized. These portions are first fastened to eachother along one of their edges by stitching 64 or in any other suitablemanner (Fig. 6), and are then secured to the lower edge of the rear flap6 by stitching 66 or in any other suitable manner. In attaching thesections to the flap IS the sections are superimposed thereon with theirarcuate edges 68 and 10 in alignment with the arcuate lower edge of theflap l6 and secured to the flap by the stitching 66, as shown in Fig. 5,whereby to provide a pocket 12 (Fig. 6), having a double or reinforcedfront wall.

The upper edge of the pocket is provided on its inside with one member Mof a snap fastener adapted to engage one of a series of complementarymembers 16 of a snap fastener secured in vertical alignment on theoutside of the front flap 14, whereby detachably to secure the upperedge of the pocket to the front flap. The series of complementary snapfastening members are provided whereby to adjust the pocket as desired.

When the pocket is fastened in closed position, as shown in Figs. 5 and6, leg holes '18 and are formed.

The pocket in the garment of Figs. 5 and 6 serves as a support, as wellas to retain the garment from riding up when worn. The garment of Figs.5 and 6 is also well adapted to be worn as a combination shirt anddrawers if so desired by the wearer.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the presentinvention provides an improved garment and a novel method of making thesame which results in speeding up production, and the saving ofmaterial, labor and production costs.

From the foregoing description of our improved method and garments madethereby it will also be appreciated that many operations are eliminated,such as cutting, seaming and stitching, and that a more perfectlyfitting garment is provided.

While the present invention has been described in connection with anundershirt by way of example, it will be understood that inventionapplies to other garments such as slipover sweaters, bathing suits,bandeaux, slips, bras, aprons or in fact any sleeveless, slip-over gar-5 'rnent having shoulder straps or the equivalent.

While we have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of ourinvention it is to be understood that we do not wish to be limitedthereto as obviously various changes and modifications may be made inthe method herein described and the garment illustrated and describedwithout departing from the spirit and scope of our inventionf What weclaim is:

The method of forming a garment of the character described from a fabrictube flattened along lines midway of the portions thereof which are toconstitute the front and back of the garment, comprising cutting outportions of the superimposed layers of fabric substantially below theupper end thereof to constitute the complete armholes, severing bothlayers of the flattened tube on a contoured line above the armholes toform the front and back neck portions of the garment with shoulderstraps therebetween, severing both layers of the flattened tube on acontoured line at a predetermined point below and REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,809,502 Barclay June 9, 19311,891,775 Neilson Dec. 20, 1932 1,969,349 Bergh Aug. 7, 1934 2,049,966Lerner Aug. 4, 1936 2,377,004 Hanes May 29, 1945 22,414,048 Lesavoy Jan.7, 1947

